Where's the disconnect?

Meerman Scott

Seth Godin quipped that engagement is hitting people with the right message at the right time so as to have them take action [engage]. I think we have to take that word engage and thus precise moment further. To truly engage, at least in my head, you have to be enchanted, you have to be moved, you have to yearn for more so much so that you have no choice but to act on your desires. It the deepest throes of emotion. Words like love, anger and the many nuances of each come to mind. It’s not just a like, unlike, +1 or the such. It’s deeper.

Mr. Apartment Manager Man; “I am done.”

It’s not unlike the gentleman I met with last Friday evening. He, unfortunately, was moving out of our Central West End Community. Reason? In his words, “I am done.”

You see about three weeks ago, the entire roof of his five story building blew off and landed in the parking lot beside and the street in front. Thank the one that governs it all that no one was hurt as it could have been really bad.

In response to the situation; our team entered every apartment in the building and place plastic over beds, electronics and the such. Most were thankful. Not the gentleman I met on Friday. His beef? We did not leave him a note to let him know we had been in his apartment.

Engage

Somewhere in the wake of the roof being pulled off the building by straight lined winds; his attention got engaged. The premise aside; he was moved by an aggressive deep seated emotion. He engaged with some ill language and barbed personal remarks for the onsite team and the rest of our Mills management team. He got so engaged that he ended up leaving the property.

The Point

I think we are headed toward true engagement – we are not there yet. We use the word but in it’s loosest of senses. We are in the early innings of a very long ball game that is frankly destined for infinite extra innings. Think in terms of singularity. Think in terms of love, hate and other extremes. That’s engagement. For now we are just courting. Or, at best out on a blind date and liking our mate because our friends suggested we should. Now it’s up to us and the million other people out there participating with brands to fall in love or fall in hate.

What do you think?

Photo tip to: Online Ninja Blog

Friendslist offers a cleaner interface to start, but that’s nothing new. What it does is connect buyers and sellers, or people who are looking for jobs and people who are hiring, through the people they know. Yes, Oodle does this to some extent on Facebook Marketplace, but Friendslist takes a slightly different approach.

No offense FR. But, please know whether it was you, AF, AG or any other provider, I would feel the same. The move gave me every cause to expedite the reallocation of near $550,000 of FR specific marketing spend over the last 18 months. Not a complete departure but a semi-massive one.  Stay tuned…

One way I like to think about Facebook as it relates to Apartment Marketing is as a way to capture memories – be it your residents, yours or otherwise. Think of it as the time-capsule that never gets buried only to be of use later. The memories are there and always accessible by anybody and everybody.

Think of those memories as powerful little marketing messages that never rest. It’s that whole theory of your most influential evangelists selling your apartments on your behalf. Dare I say, it’s the most powerful form of an ILS out there today. And, you want to capture as many relevant, thoughtful and meaningful messages as you can.

Give your residents a crazy cool and awesome place to capture their apartment living memories and experiences – you will love them for it. It’s not just about creating memorable moments anymore – it’s also about capturing those memorable moments in a manner that is useful for all involved.

Where are you capturing memories?

I have included the chart here again for reference:

What is Education?

Education, according to Princeton.edu is defined as; a gradual process of acquiring knowledge. From the time of birth we are taking in information, processing it, making decisions and acting. All the while we are layering information on top of information, taking in the new and purging the old to make new assumptions about the future to come. In any case, we are subject to the people and the environment we choose to hang around and participate in. There is a Dave Matthew’s song called: The Space Between. In that song Dave belts: “the space between – the tears we cry – is the laughter keeps us coming back for more – the space between – the wicked lies we tell – and hope to keep safe from the pain” I would contend that space between is called – choice. And, that choice is the byproduct of a catalyst and the result is action – all couched in education or better said, knowledge.

Value Exchange

Education would lead us to understand that the single most important catalyst in today’s business environment is garnishing a individuals attention. With no equivocation – it is the most important determinant of business success. When asking someone to give you their attention, you are asking them to give you their most precious possession – time. Ask for that attention in the way of a negative event caused by you and or your organization and expect a less than positive consequence. Ask for that attention in the way of a positive event and expect – nothing. In the Internet age this is the price of admission. In the context of apartment marketing ideas, ask for that attention in the way of educating apartment patrons and you plant the seeds necessary for true engagement.

Consumer Expectation

There is yet another thing that human beings have in common – the need for insight. Insight is often a vibrant, happy and emotionally loaded space in any person’s life. At some level we are all after it – we all want to be in-the-know. The emotion and desire is hard-wired into our system. That is to suggest that consumer’s want – innately. It’s imbued on their hearts and minds. When we apply that fact we can quickly see the overarching need to embed listening, understanding, interaction and feedback into our concept. It all adds up to meaning for the apartment patron. It all adds up to the willingness to give us their attention. As an example – people spend an average of 25 minutes per session on Facebook – why? The need for insight is being met.

Offer it and They Will Come

We see examples of this all over the internet today but my favorite is Wine Library TV – dial into the 3:50 min section of this video – it is the point. You get people to this and you are on your way to what I will end this series with.

Have a over the top and compelling end to your week – we will be back in a couple days with another installment to this series.

You will hear it again and again in 2010 – what started out as a simple and subtle tap on the window has become a crashing of such proportions that you can not ignore it anymore. Business as we know it has changed and like it or not social mediums are here to stay. The question for the coming year is, will you embrace change [embrace engagement] or will you be comfortable with irrelevance? Harvard Business Publishing posted a story titled: The Uber-Connected Organization: A Mandate for 2010 In it, Jeanne C Meister and Karie Willyerd bring notice to a number of companies embracing business as it relates to social media. They really drill home the point of access and I would like to expand on that in the context of the apartment industry.

Apartment employees access to social media

We have all heard of NetNanny and other Internet site blocking technologies used to cut off access. Meister and Willyerd suggest that, “Firms spend millions on software to block their employees from watching videos on YouTube, using social networking sites like Facebook or shopping online under the pretense that it costs millions in lost productivity, however that’s not always the case.” I suggest, in lieu of the monies dedicated to blocking initiatives, it might be time to re-imagine your culture and spend some of those monies enhancing your employees experiences.

One inexpensive example, image turning your employees loose to use Multifamily Insiders – a social media mecca for great ideas relative to our industry. Imagine your employees trading best practices with some of the industries best and brightest visionaries, consultants, practitioners and idea generators. The site includes people that dream stuff up, people who devise strategies about those dreams, people who get out and try things, fail, fix and try again and their are others who give opinions on it all. And, still more that just quietly observe. Point is that there is a mountain of information out there free of charge and ready to use but not if you block access.

Gen Y apartment talent expects access

The article speaks to the fact that by 2014 1/2 of the workforce will be comprised of Gen Y. Much has been written about the idea of this generation growing up digital. The term, social media, is not used to frame conversations like it is with older generations. It is just what they do. It’s the way they communicate. It makes up, to some degree, who they are. Think about it in terms of the multifamily demand boom coming our way.

We have all either written about or read about the coming [it is here] boom in demand created by Gen Y. Much has been made about the idea of Gen Y propping up the profits of the multifamily market for some time to come, especially in light of the stall in supply. Now if the lion’s share of occupancy is going to come in the way of Gen Y residents and 1/2 of the workforce is going to be Gen Y and Gen Y communicates via social media then why would you block access? Facebook is just what they do – Twitter [not as much] is just what they do – Text messaging is just what they do. Communicating experiences is just what they do. Cut it off and they just won’t work for you. Rather they will work for your competitor who is embracing business are it relates to today’s workforce.

If you don’t embrace change – I encourage you to get comfortable with irrelevance

Why would you not allow access? Why would you cut off the very essence of what defines Gen Y? I’ve tried to think through the downfalls and, there are some that have merit. But there are zero that would keep me up at night – that is provided our organizations guide the conversation. Will there be hiccups? Yes. We have already seen a few in this space. As the article implies in this quote, “Has blocking Facebook today become the equivalent of denying an employee access to a phone at work 40 years ago or email 20 years ago?” I have to believe there were hiccups when we finally gave up control of these communication mediums – I bet we could site some as recent as yesterday.

[Update] Found this over at The Marketing Spot – speaks to the point and could just as easily been social media holding up the productivity [in this case customer service]:

“When we landed in Dallas after an 11 hour flight from Tokyo, and I wanted some coffee. I was expecting the same type of customer service I received at Starbucks in Seoul (they are everywhere in Seoul too). The lone employee on duty at the Starbucks in DFW Terminal B was having a personal conversation on the store phone. Two people were in line. After she leisurely finished her conversation, she took one person’s order, then begin to make his drink, leaving me and the other customer in line waiting, not even acknowledging us. I left without ordering. You’re not in Seoul anymore, Dorothy.”

To sum up – can you really afford not to re-imagine your organization in 2010 as it relates to the use of social media? Can you really afford to cut off access to a 24/7 connected generation? Remember they are/will be the front line serving your target 24/7 connected generation. Remember there are trailblazers out there that are willing to give them what they want. My speculation is those organizations will love being relevant.

I have read both sides of this issue and have taken the position that if you disclose that you are paying for and or giving something away in exchange for an endorsement then frankly it’s okay. It really comes down to what is in the eye of the beholder.  And, I think, at the end of the day, if a person really wants a product/experience they will go and get it/have it despite the persons of influence in their lives. They may read and listen but if they want it – they want it, period.

My real point here is that the above tweet implies that it’s okay to give away a  Flip in exchange for an endorsement. Moreover it specifically states that it’s better than giving away free rent. On that point I ask: What’s the difference? – give away free rent or buy 20 Flips to give away – either way you hit the bottom line. Sure buying the Flip is cheaper and brings along a novelty that escaped the free rent give away long ago but it’s still an expense. It’s just a different form of currency. Marry it with a “you get the Flip free “if” you give me an endorsement and you have really marred the picture but I will leave that for future conversation.

For now – I really wonder what the community thinks – Is the Flip, used in this sense, a form of currency that could be construed as purchasing feedback? If so, is that okay? Would it pass a Yelp sniff test? Do you think the masses really care? Would you give equal stage to people who would speak conversely about your brand experience? Is it better than free rent? If so, why?

“Last November at the Indiana Apartment Association “Industry Outlook” presentation, the speaker said a dirty word when sharing his thoughts about 2009. It was much longer than four letters, beginning with a “C” and ending in “onsessions”. After that night we began brainstorming about overcoming this obstacle. What we came up with was “The Year of the Resident.”- Mark Juleen

“Turn the focus inward” became the mantra for Mark and his team. They re-imagined the way they would allocate their marketing resources spending money on such things as; resident functions, upgrades to social meeting spaces and special promotions. One of those special promotions made use of the social medium YouTube and the catchy tune, Live Your Life by T.I. [featuring Rihanna] It really caught our eye and we wanted to feature it here.

“Some may have already had a chance to see what’s been going on with our first “Special Promotion” called the “J.C. Hart Live the Life Video Contest.” This contest asks for J.C. Hart Apartment Community residents to create a two minute video or less on why they love living in their J.C. Hart Apartment Community and Apartment. The videos were posted to YouTube.com to enter, and since, were narrowed down to the top 5 finalists in our 6 winning categories. We posted these finalists to a custom blog (livethelife.homeisjchart.com), and have just recently selected our winners. You can read the winners announcement on the blog, and view all the 44 entries on the J.C. Hart YouTube page.” – Mark Juleen

We asked Mark to share the numbers with us and this is what he had to say -
All data and information as of March 31, 2009:

• YouTube.com/homeisjchart Channel Hits – 11,045
• YouTube Video Entry Views (44 total video entries) – 34,420
  • Total views in-full (YouTube does not count partial views or facebook sharing views)
• Live the Life Finalist Blog Hits – 13,483
  • Absolute Unique Visitors – 10,048
  • Page views – 27,248
  • Only 360 users on Dial-up
  • Facebook referral hits – 819, 2^nd highest next to direct URL
  • Hits from 37 countries (astonishing # from Guam)
  • 146 comments (88 alone on Overall)
• Votes Cast Using Poll Daddy Polls – 15,554 (6,964 for Best Overall Video)

We’d also like to share some of the comments we’ve had from the contest as well.

“Just wanted to let you know that this contest was a great idea.”

“I thought all the videos were great! Everybody did a really good job. It’s great to see so much participation!”

“Way to go J.C. Hart! Great to see your pro-active involvement in assisting those with disabilities.”

“This contest has been a lot of fun….we really had fun making the video.”

When asking a prospect how they heard about us: “I saw you on the J.C. Hart website. It sounded like a fun place to live. You are listed on my notes under the “funny video” apartments.”

“Thanks J.C. Hart for running such a great contest. It’s nice to see a company do something so unique and cool. I don’t work for J.C. Hart, I just live here. ”

It has been fun and exciting to open up new communication lines with our residents. A huge proponent for our online social media efforts has been our local marketing partner Firebelly Marketing. With their expertise and our talented leasing teams we have been able to implement a number of new online tools and enhance our web presence. We feel by utilizing social media tools we are now reaching our residents more frequently than we ever could with resident events or more amenities. Most importantly, we’ve found a group of our residents that love to share their stories and love their apartment/community. Beyond the online data, these testimonials help confirm we are doing things right as well. It’s our goal to “Make your home an enjoyable living experience,” and many of our residents have helped demonstrate that for us.

I think this is a great testament to the use of social media to market apartments and in the same respect, I have to imagine that Mark and his team were mindful of the fact that someone could have used this platform/stage to speak adversely of the J.C. Hart brand. I applaud that this did not detour them in their efforts. Thank you for demonstrating some real courage on this one Mark.

The story gets better. Or, at least in my opinion it does. On two different occasions I emailed Mark, at the request of people I told about the J.C. Hart contest, to ask if he would field some questions – questions about how these individuals could create their own respective contests. Mark, being the class act that he is, said absolutely. To me – that is what is all about – sharing for the betterment of the industry as a whole. Hats off to you Mark and thank you for taking the time to share with us.

You can learn more about Mark and what he is up to at the following sites:

LinkedIn Profile: www.linkedin.com/in/mjuleen
Twitter Account: www.twitter.com/mbj
Other Profiles: www.theapartmentnerd.com

…you are not ready to be a marketer. You see, the essence of social media is conversation and that conversation is you being a marketer. So in order to use to social media to market you must be willing to be a marketer, you must be willing to engage.

When you use social media to market apartments you take on the responsibility of engaging in feedback – be it good, bad, indifferent or even downright hateful. And, therein lies the fear of many operators. How do we handle the negative and hateful feedback we might get, is the question I hear most often. I say, “engage in a conversation with them.” I might add, “how do you respond when someone meets you face to face to voice their discord about your community? Do you sit silent or do you engage in a conversation?” You have to think of social media as just a mechanism for conversation – nothing more – nothing less. And, about those potential negative comments, they take themselves.

To that point let’s direct our attention to a Washington Post titled; Listening to the Dot-Commenters written by Doug Feaver, former Executive Editor of the Post [thanks for the great post, Doug]. The gist of the article is about the self correcting nature of socially irresponsible commenter’s and more specifically anonymous ones, that is to say people who use feedback platforms as bully pulpits. I think the Post’s philosophy is one that could/should be mirrored in the multifamily space.

I have come to think that online comments are a terrific addition to the conversation and that journalists need to take them seriously. Comments provide a forum for readers to complain about what they see as unfairness or inaccuracy in an article (and too often they have a point), to talk to each other (sometimes in an uncivilized manner) and, yes, to bloviate. – Doug Feaver

I can see merit in Doug’s logic and I think it will – over time – marry well to sites like apartmentratings and yelp, just to name a few. I have to believe that the more accustom apartment seekers become to prospect/resident generated feedback sites, the more they will either avoid, ignore or correct socially irresponsible comments. The down right passionate users will see it as their absolute duty to counter the negative or misguided users. Now, should the down right passionate user be you – please remember to handle yourself professionally. In my mind you represent an industry not just your individual community or property management firm. And, just remember, it’s all marketing.

Have a stellar Easter weekend.

M

Arlington, VA–April 9, 2009–Several of social media’s greatest minds will discuss how this popular marketing approach applies to customer service and retention during a session at the National Apartment Association’s 2009 Education Conference & Exposition on June 27 in Las Vegas.

Tony Hsieh, the CEO of online shoes retailer Zappos, is one of the featured panelists. Hsieh is recognized as having the largest following on Twitter worldwide, with more than 350,000 followers. Hsieh has grown Zappos from $1.6 million in 2000 to $840 million in 2007, a measly 525,000 percent increase.

This is one of more than 50 education sessions to be presented at the 2009 NAA Education Conference & Exposition. Visit www.naahq.org/educonf for registration information and a complete schedule, which includes keynote speakers Forbes Chairman and CEO Steve Forbes, comedian Dana Carvey and Politico Founder Jim VandeHei.

Dominating the current talk about marketing is effective use of social media—how Twitter is taking over e-mail, how Facebook has more users than most countries have citizens and how engineered virality can replace a marketing budget. With all the chatter, one might think that social media should be a substitute for advertising–a reason to eliminate a company’s marketing staff, and even cure the common cold. This panel will share effective social media strategies that companies can use and discuss common misperceptions about social media.

Rentwiki.com co-founder Eric Wu will moderate the panel, which also includes Jeremiah Owyang, Senior Analyst at Forrester Research; and Pete Flint, Founder of real-estate industry Web site Trulia.com.

Visit www.naahq.org/educonf for registration information and a schedule of the more than 50 education sessions to be presented at the 2009 NAA Education Conference & Exposition. Or call NAA at 703/518-6141.

Paul Bergeron

National Apartment Association

Director of Communications-UNITS Magazine

4300 Wilson Blvd Ste 400  Arlington VA 22203

phone: 703/797-0606 fax: 703/248-9440

America’s Leading Advocate for Quality Rental Housing

Zappos, NAA, Apartment Marketing, Using Social Media to Market Apartments

Don’t be Boring

First off – I despise the word rule. In the same respect I think it is appropriate to suggest that we can not be boring when using social media to market apartments.  And, know that boring includes the use of social media to push goods and services.

Social media is not push marketing – use it as such and watch the people run. Social media is rather, permission based marketing and is about conversation and participation. And, that conversation and participation turns out to be the marketing. We have to really wrap our minds around this concept as it is very counter to the way we have used traditional mediums to market apartments. Nevertheless, it’s our time to shine – as for all intents and purposes the mass adoption of social media in the multifamily space is just getting started. It really is the perfect time to put a dent in the multifamily universe – are you ready?

Have a very non-boring and otherwise compelling day

M

Using social media to market apartments, conversation marketing